Formal and Informal Assessment of Student Learning
Name: Kathryn Capone
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
Informal Assignment: Students were required to create cell cycle foldables that had 8 flaps- one for each of the following terms: Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, Cytokinesis (animals) and cytokinesis (plants). Each flap had to include a definition of the term, important steps involved in that phase, and a diagram of a cell going through that phase including 4 chromosomes in at least 2 different colors (to show how sister chromatids split and resulting cell has equal amounts of each color chromatid). They had to either hand this in at the end of the class, or finish it for homework and hand it in the following day.
Formal Assignment: Students completed a cell cycle and division quiz. They were responsible for knowing the steps of the cell cycle, the checkpoints in interphase, and all the steps of mitosis. They needed to know what occurred in each, as well as the importance and purpose of cell division. This quiz included 10 matching, 5 multiple choice, and 5 short-answer questions.
II. Preparation / Development
1. Reflect on your current assessment practices. How have you been determining what students understand and what they are able to do?
Thus far, I have been basing my assessments on the objectives I attempted to reach in each lesson leading up to it. These objectives were written daily and based on the GSE's to make sure I was teaching toward the proper goal each day. As I grade each assessment, I take note of any questions that seam to have confused 5 or more students. I look back on the question and ask myself "was this question worded in a way that was comprehendible?" If yes, then I make sure I properly taught the students the material they were asked to recall, by checking back on the notes I gave them to make sure they had the information. If they did, I mentally check back to see if I might have verbally said something that could have caused confusion. If I can't figure out someway either the question, or I confused the students, I have to assume they just didn't study the material properly and it was just a more difficult question. After every assessment, I give it back and go over it. During this time, I explain the correct answer and clear up any common misconceptions I had found when grading the quiz or test. The short response questions on this quiz in particular, help to judge what the students have learned in regards to them needing to recall this information on their own (not being provided with a word bank). By looking over these answers, I can determine whether or not the students understand the material and are able to do what the objectives say.
I like your method for arriving at your assessment items based on what students are trying to understand. Are you satisfied that Ss recalling information indicates understanding? Have you found that Ss pay attention as you "go over" answers after quizzes? If so, why?
2. Describe the concept(s) that you are trying to assess in these assignments. Include a link to the appropriate GSE(s) on RIScienceTeachers. Be sure to include in your description your definition, examples of what it is, why students have difficulty with this concept, and why it is important that you teach this topic
For both of these assignments the students need to cover the following:
LS3 (Ext) -7 Students demonstrate an understanding of NaturalSelection/ evolution by…
7aa distinguishing the stages of mitosis and meiosis and how each contributes to the production of offspring with varying traits
For this GSE, since we haven't done genetics and meiosis yet, I am only referring to mitosis. The students must describe each step of mitosis and predict what would occur if it didn't happen. The students are also responsible for recognizing that mitosis results in two genetically identical cells. This is important because since they divide for repair and growth, you would want cells to be producing new cells that are the same as the old ones. Knowing the distinct steps that occur in this process help to further the understanding of this material and use that knowledge to predict crucial outcomes of certain events. If they understand that during mitosis the spindle fibers attach to the chromosomes at the centromere, they then can go on and predict what possible mutations/problems could occur if say, a human has a disease where their spindle fibers are frail or week (highly unlikely in a living human, but still). The foldables are a good example of how the students are learning the individual phases of the cell cycle and what events occur in each. Students often have trouble remembering the terms of the steps of mitosis since these are complex vocabulary words they've never heard before. Agreed. I've addressed these difficulties by providing the students with alternate ways to remember the term names and relate them to what happens in those phases. For example, during metaphase, chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell. I told the students they could remember this by thinking M for metaphase, m for middle. Same with Anaphase = Away since in Anaphase, sister-chromatids split and move to opposite sides of the cell. This knowledge will also be used as prior knowledge and will be built upon during the next unit of genetics and meiosis, which is why its important to this unit as well as this subject as a whole.
Does the foldable include a drawing of the stages of cell division? Would this help students describe each stage?
LS1 (Ext) –2 Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by …
2aadiagramming or modeling the relationship between chromosomes, genes and DNA, including histones and nucleosomes.
For this GSE, the students were asked to draw and label a cell that was going through mitosis. Good. This required them to identify certain organelles, such as the nuclear membrane, and diagram the chromosomes in each step. The students were taught that chromosomes were made up of histones and DNA which comprises chromatin fiber. This chromatin then coils and condenses to form chromosomes. The students needed to diagram these in specific colors in each step so they understood where they were being replicated, splitting at the centromere as sister chromatids, and uncondensing back into that chromatin fiber made up of DNA + histone proteins.Having them draw the chromosomes in each step of mitosis helps the visual learners to envision the process the cell division from the point of view of the chromosomes. It is important for the students to recognize that chromosomes form as a way to organize the cells DNA during mitosis to ensure even splitting of the genetic information it holds. Because the chromosomes are made up of a couple different levels of molecules arranged in a certain way, its difficult for students to remember what makes up what. Learning the chromosome structure will also be vital prior knowledge used as a basis to start our next unit on- genetics and meiosis.
In addition to these GSE's some learning objectives were
Students will be able to compare and contrast cytokinesis in plants and cytokinesis in animals and recognize what this difference is due to.
Student will be able to diagram the stages of the cell cycle, highlighting key events in each.
Students will be able to define Interphase, and the three checkpoints it includes.
3. (and 7) Describe an informal assessment that you selected, modified, or designed to address this concept. Summarize the instructions you gave your students and Include a link to the informal assessment here as well.
Informal Assessment: Cell Cycle Foldables
In this activity the students were to complete a foldable. We constructed these foldables together in class using paper and a stapler to construct these books with 8 flaps. Next, I instructed the students to title the foldable, THE CELL CYCLE, and each flap should read as follows: Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, Cytokinesis (animals), Cytokinesis (plants). I told the students that for each flap they need to include the following: A definition of that term, a list of events that happen in that phase, and a diagram of a cell in that phase, labeled and including 4 chromosomes in at least 2 different colors. I collected these foldables at the end of class and gave classwork grades for them. I wrote any corrections on the backs of their foldables for the students to fix these foldables so they can use them as study guides and have all the correct information. Good.
Did you use some sort of rubric or scoring guide for the foldables? Your feedback for the low performing student seemed pretty brief.
4. (and 8) Create a formal assessment. Describe this assessment, including concepts, types of items, and how it was assessed. Include a link to a copy of the assessment here as well.
Formal Assessment: I created a quiz made up of 10 matching, 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer. For the matching, the students needed to match multiple descriptions of events with their phase names. The multiple choice included various questions on mitosis and the result and purpose, and the short answer involved chromosome structure and facts questions. Each question was worth 1 pt so the quiz was out of 20. The students raw scores were then converted into percentages for easier viewing.
6. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your informal assessment or link it here. This description should include the assessment's features, how it addresses different depths of knowledge, as well as an explanation of how it addresses a scientific practice related to inquiry.
The informal assessment was collected and counted toward their classwork grade for 5 points. The experience was really the important thing in this activity and these foldables serve as an excellent study guide for their quiz and their test. Because of this, I collected them all so that I was sure everybody was studying all the correct material and included everything they needed to know in each of the steps. If they were missing something and/or some of the information was wrong, i noted this on the back of the foldable. When I handed them back out, I explained what my comments on the back were and urged the students to make the appropriate corrections to their foldables so that they could use them as a study guide and get the best score possible. This assessment addresses different depths of knowledge because it requires them to not only define the steps, but they also have to trace the chromosomal changes throughout each step, and highlight key events that happen in each. The last two flaps required the students to compare and contrast cytokinesis in plants an animals. The students needed to already know some basic cell organelles such as the nuclear membrane, nucleolus, and cel membrane and had to relate this information to the new material because different mitotic steps involve some of these organelles.
7. & 8. - Already addressed above.
9. For your informal assessment, upload scans of the work of three or four students. The work of each student should be on a different page. At the bottom of each students' page, you should describe the level of student understanding, e.g. high, average, or low, and describe how this is indicated in their answers. An example of how to do this is here. Note: Remember to name the pages you create carefully, e.g. "Smith S10 - High Performing" instead of "High-Performing."
Attached above.
Low level student drew chromosomes as duplicated in cytokinesis. This is a common mistake of a student who doesn't quite grasp the entire concept of mitosis because it's supposed to show the nuclear division- or the splitting of the genetic material (chromosomes). If the chromosomes looked lie X's in cytokinesis, that proves this student needs further reinforcement of the purpose of cell division- to create two new genetically identical cells with the correct amount of chromosomes in each.
10. For you formal assessment, describe how you think it addressed the concepts you were trying to assess? How did you modify the assessment to address learning differences or special needs?
It clearly addresses the concepts because it physically required them to draw and define and label the steps of mitosis. By creating these foldables the students can see all the steps clearly laid out in the order they occur in, and also includes further information about that step when you open that flap. In the end of cytokinesis the students all drew 2 new cells with the 2 different colored genetic material that matched the first parent cell. This proves they understand the purpose of cell division.
Isn't this question about your quiz?
III. Analysis / Reflection
11. Use both the informal and formal assessments to describe what you learned about what your students understand about these concepts. Use specific examples from both the informal and formal assessment to illustrate your points. What can your students do now that they could not before, and what do they still need to learn?
The students showed me they understand the steps of mitosis by not only defining them, but by drawing the pictures. Often times the students had correct written information but had diagrammed it wrong, and I made them fix it until it showed what their definition said, and made sure they understood why. The students had trouble with the concept of a duplicated chromosome, a single chromatid, and chromatin fiber. I could see this by the incorrect placement of X's in the low level example.
In the formal assessment, I could tell the students who clearly studied, from the students who didn't. I could tell this because I watched them make perfectly good study devices that accurately showed each step of mitosis- so there is no reason anybody should have gotten more that 1 or two wrong on the front matching page. The low performing student definitely did not study and the high performing student did. Most everybody was able to remember how many chromosomes humans have, and what chromosomes are made of.
12. OMIT
13. For your formal assessment only, select one student characteristic, e.g. ability, gender, age, etc) and compare the relative performance of each group. Hint: Use box and whiskers plots to compare the two groups. What do you conclude from this comparison? Why?
This information shows me that even though the girls and the boys had averages that were very similar, the girl's scores ranged a LOT more, with the lowest receiving a 58 and the highest receiving an 100. The boys were all relatively close to the same score, and experiences less range. To me that means that there are some girls who will try hard and study and get perfect scores, while there are also girls who won't study and will fail. The boys in this case may have all studied, but possibly more quickly so they didn't all know it perfectly, but they all knew it. These of course are all assumptions based on the ranging results.
14. Describe any ways in which you involved students in self-assessment. How did you communicate what you learned from your informal and formal assessments to your students? What did they do with this information?
By writing the corrections on the back of the foldables, i kept my comments separate from their work while still having them see what they did wrong and gave them the chance to make any corrections. I used pencil because they worked hard on these and I didn't want them to be upset if I drew all over them in purple ink. Good thinking. This way they can just erase my corrections once they make them, and have a nice clean study guide. I discussed with the students that they all had these foldables to study from and that they should for the quiz. When we went over the quiz I expressed my feelings about those who obviously didn't study because they had the information available to them right there, all they had to do was look it over a couple times the night before. I think that by doing this they might realize how silly it was, and also see how easily it is to do well if you just study.
15: Most Important: Compare your objectives for student learning (both in terms of science concepts and practices) to the student learning you observed. What did you learn about your teaching based on the student performances? What will you do differently next time? Why would you make these changes? What, if anything, will you do to improve the assessment instruments?
LS1 (Ext) –2 Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by …
2aadiagramming or modeling the relationship between chromosomes, genes and DNA, including histones and nucleosomes.
LS3 (Ext) -7 Students demonstrate an understanding of NaturalSelection/ evolution by…
7aa distinguishing the stages of mitosis
In addition to these GSE's some learning objectives were
Students will be able to compare and contrast cytokinesis in plants and cytokinesis in animals and recognize what this difference is due to.
Student will be able to diagram the stages of the cell cycle, highlighting key events in each.
Students will be able to define Interphase, and the three checkpoints it includes.
The students defined chromosome and chromatid on their quizzes as well as identified that they are both made up of histones and DNA, which all applies to GSE-LS1. In the foldables, they practiced learning the steps of mitosis and recognized key events in each. This applies to GSE-LS3.
FInally, the students drew two different pictures for cytokinesis in plants and animals, which demonstrated their ability to compare and contrast them. They identified the "pinching off" that occurs in animals cells because they have a cell membrane and a cell plate that forms in plant cells because they have a cell wall. The first flap included interphase and all three checkpoints and what occurs specifically in each. This covers the last learning objective. Although it seemed students understood all of the following after we did the foldables, they showed me that in order to get the most out of them they actually need to look them over more than in class and actually study them to do well on the quiz. Those that had perfect foldables (high performing), showed similar results in their quiz grades. The low performing student only achieved a 70% on their quiz which proved to me that he/she could have studied more and put more effort in. Because this is an honors class, nobody has IEPs or 504s, so I didn't need to accommodate much in this class. However, I did the same with my inquiry class (the foldables) and I decided that constructing them would have been too difficult, so I made them all before class and just had them fill it out. This prevented the students with attention disorders to remain focused a bit more by simplifying both the instructions and the assignment. Interesting choice. Sometimes, students have difficulty with traditional assignments become more engaged with tactile tasks such as creating a foldable.
Name: Kathryn Capone
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
II. Preparation / Development
1. Reflect on your current assessment practices. How have you been determining what students understand and what they are able to do?
I like your method for arriving at your assessment items based on what students are trying to understand. Are you satisfied that Ss recalling information indicates understanding? Have you found that Ss pay attention as you "go over" answers after quizzes? If so, why?
2. Describe the concept(s) that you are trying to assess in these assignments. Include a link to the appropriate GSE(s) on RIScienceTeachers. Be sure to include in your description your definition, examples of what it is, why students have difficulty with this concept, and why it is important that you teach this topic
LS3 (Ext) -7 Students demonstrate an understanding of NaturalSelection/ evolution by…
7aa distinguishing the stages of mitosis and meiosis and how each contributes to the
production of offspring with varying traits
Does the foldable include a drawing of the stages of cell division? Would this help students describe each stage?
LS1 (Ext) –2
Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by …
2aadiagramming or modeling the relationship between chromosomes, genes and DNA, including histones and nucleosomes.
It is important for the students to recognize that chromosomes form as a way to organize the cells DNA during mitosis to ensure even splitting of the genetic information it holds. Because the chromosomes are made up of a couple different levels of molecules arranged in a certain way, its difficult for students to remember what makes up what. Learning the chromosome structure will also be vital prior knowledge used as a basis to start our next unit on- genetics and meiosis.
3. (and 7) Describe an informal assessment that you selected, modified, or designed to address this concept. Summarize the instructions you gave your students and Include a link to the informal assessment here as well.
Did you use some sort of rubric or scoring guide for the foldables? Your feedback for the low performing student seemed pretty brief.
4. (and 8) Create a formal assessment. Describe this assessment, including concepts, types of items, and how it was assessed. Include a link to a copy of the assessment here as well.
5. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your formal assessment or link it here.
6. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your informal assessment or link it here. This description should include the assessment's features, how it addresses different depths of knowledge, as well as an explanation of how it addresses a scientific practice related to inquiry.
The informal assessment was collected and counted toward their classwork grade for 5 points. The experience was really the important thing in this activity and these foldables serve as an excellent study guide for their quiz and their test. Because of this, I collected them all so that I was sure everybody was studying all the correct material and included everything they needed to know in each of the steps. If they were missing something and/or some of the information was wrong, i noted this on the back of the foldable. When I handed them back out, I explained what my comments on the back were and urged the students to make the appropriate corrections to their foldables so that they could use them as a study guide and get the best score possible. This assessment addresses different depths of knowledge because it requires them to not only define the steps, but they also have to trace the chromosomal changes throughout each step, and highlight key events that happen in each. The last two flaps required the students to compare and contrast cytokinesis in plants an animals. The students needed to already know some basic cell organelles such as the nuclear membrane, nucleolus, and cel membrane and had to relate this information to the new material because different mitotic steps involve some of these organelles.
7. & 8. - Already addressed above.
9. For your informal assessment, upload scans of the work of three or four students. The work of each student should be on a different page. At the bottom of each students' page, you should describe the level of student understanding, e.g. high, average, or low, and describe how this is indicated in their answers. An example of how to do this is here. Note: Remember to name the pages you create carefully, e.g. "Smith S10 - High Performing" instead of "High-Performing."
Attached above.
Low level student drew chromosomes as duplicated in cytokinesis. This is a common mistake of a student who doesn't quite grasp the entire concept of mitosis because it's supposed to show the nuclear division- or the splitting of the genetic material (chromosomes). If the chromosomes looked lie X's in cytokinesis, that proves this student needs further reinforcement of the purpose of cell division- to create two new genetically identical cells with the correct amount of chromosomes in each.
10. For you formal assessment, describe how you think it addressed the concepts you were trying to assess? How did you modify the assessment to address learning differences or special needs?
Isn't this question about your quiz?
III. Analysis / Reflection
11. Use both the informal and formal assessments to describe what you learned about what your students understand about these concepts. Use specific examples from both the informal and formal assessment to illustrate your points. What can your students do now that they could not before, and what do they still need to learn?
12. OMIT
13. For your formal assessment only, select one student characteristic, e.g. ability, gender, age, etc) and compare the relative performance of each group. Hint: Use box and whiskers plots to compare the two groups. What do you conclude from this comparison? Why?
Explanation and values
Boys average- 86
Boys high- 95
Boys low- 70
Upper quartile- 93
Lower quartile- 79
Girls average- 87
Girls high- 100
Girls low- 58
Upper quartile- 91
Lower quartile- 73
This information shows me that even though the girls and the boys had averages that were very similar, the girl's scores ranged a LOT more, with the lowest receiving a 58 and the highest receiving an 100. The boys were all relatively close to the same score, and experiences less range. To me that means that there are some girls who will try hard and study and get perfect scores, while there are also girls who won't study and will fail. The boys in this case may have all studied, but possibly more quickly so they didn't all know it perfectly, but they all knew it. These of course are all assumptions based on the ranging results.
14. Describe any ways in which you involved students in self-assessment. How did you communicate what you learned from your informal and formal assessments to your students? What did they do with this information?
By writing the corrections on the back of the foldables, i kept my comments separate from their work while still having them see what they did wrong and gave them the chance to make any corrections. I used pencil because they worked hard on these and I didn't want them to be upset if I drew all over them in purple ink. Good thinking. This way they can just erase my corrections once they make them, and have a nice clean study guide. I discussed with the students that they all had these foldables to study from and that they should for the quiz. When we went over the quiz I expressed my feelings about those who obviously didn't study because they had the information available to them right there, all they had to do was look it over a couple times the night before. I think that by doing this they might realize how silly it was, and also see how easily it is to do well if you just study.
15: Most Important: Compare your objectives for student learning (both in terms of science concepts and practices) to the student learning you observed. What did you learn about your teaching based on the student performances? What will you do differently next time? Why would you make these changes? What, if anything, will you do to improve the assessment instruments?
LS1 (Ext) –2
Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by …
2aadiagramming or modeling the relationship between chromosomes, genes and DNA, including histones and nucleosomes.
LS3 (Ext) -7 Students demonstrate an understanding of NaturalSelection/ evolution by…
7aa distinguishing the stages of mitosis
The students defined chromosome and chromatid on their quizzes as well as identified that they are both made up of histones and DNA, which all applies to GSE-LS1. In the foldables, they practiced learning the steps of mitosis and recognized key events in each. This applies to GSE-LS3.
FInally, the students drew two different pictures for cytokinesis in plants and animals, which demonstrated their ability to compare and contrast them. They identified the "pinching off" that occurs in animals cells because they have a cell membrane and a cell plate that forms in plant cells because they have a cell wall. The first flap included interphase and all three checkpoints and what occurs specifically in each. This covers the last learning objective. Although it seemed students understood all of the following after we did the foldables, they showed me that in order to get the most out of them they actually need to look them over more than in class and actually study them to do well on the quiz. Those that had perfect foldables (high performing), showed similar results in their quiz grades. The low performing student only achieved a 70% on their quiz which proved to me that he/she could have studied more and put more effort in. Because this is an honors class, nobody has IEPs or 504s, so I didn't need to accommodate much in this class. However, I did the same with my inquiry class (the foldables) and I decided that constructing them would have been too difficult, so I made them all before class and just had them fill it out. This prevented the students with attention disorders to remain focused a bit more by simplifying both the instructions and the assignment. Interesting choice. Sometimes, students have difficulty with traditional assignments become more engaged with tactile tasks such as creating a foldable.